


Behind The Armor

by Barbara_Lazuli



Series: Princess Sisters AU [2]
Category: Aladdin (2019), Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Crossover, F/F, F/M, Jasmine's POV
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-12
Updated: 2019-07-12
Packaged: 2020-06-26 21:16:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19776580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barbara_Lazuli/pseuds/Barbara_Lazuli
Summary: "She was my bestfriend.""Was," Aladdin points out. He spares a moment to look away from the road and at Jasmine. "'Guessing that's not the case anymore. What happened?"Jasmine shrugs. "We grew up?" She sighs, adds, "Or, well, grew apart."





	Behind The Armor

**Author's Note:**

> hahahaha i couldn't resist. this got ridiculously long, and writing jasmine was so hard. i hadnt had a full grasp of her character yet, and i always had to catch myself to not make her ooc. had to cut it in half to rest a bit. BUT, i already have a big chunk of the second half finished, so that one hopefully wont take too long.

Jasmine looks up from her book to watch Kimberly stack and pile their couch cusions into something that resembles a wall. Flo, their babysitter, is too distracted with talking to her boyfriend on the phone to scold them for the mess Kimberly is making of the living room.

"Okay," Kimberly proudly huffs. She pulls a reluctant Jasmine from her perch on the rug and ushers her sister behind the wall of cusions. "You stand over there."

"What are we playing this time?" Jasmine asks. She's ten now and has long grown tired of pretend games like these, but she still plays along for Kimberly's sake. Still, she can't help longingly looking at her book.

"Fairy tales! You're princess Jasmine." She hands Jasmine a familiar headband that had plastic jewels Kimberly glued to it. 

"Wait a minute. I thought I lost this."

Kimberly ignores her sister, continues to tell her backstory instead. "Princess Jasmine is locked in her tower because of the curse that was infected upon her." 

" _Inflicted_ ," Jasmine interjects as she puts on her "crown". "You mean 'inflicted'."

Kimberly blows a raspberry at her. "Whatever." She pulls out an umbrella, waves it around like a mighty sword. "I am your noble knight, the one who will slay the dragon and save you!"

Jasmine just hums in amusement, chin in her hand as she watches Kimberly battle an invisible dragon. It's been Kimberly's obsession lately. 

"Don't you want to be the princess this time?" Jasmine says. "I thought you'd want to be the princess."

"I can't be the _princess_ ," Kimberly says with an exaggerated eyeroll. " _You're_ the princess! You're all... princessy and stuff."

Jasmine giggles. "What does that even mean?"

Kimberly points the umbrella at her. "It means I'm right so hush. Mommy and Daddy already calls you princess, anyway."

"It's just because of that one play," Jasmine says as she picks at a loose thread in her shirt. The nickname just stuck, she supposes. "I just agreed to the part because I liked to sing. You'd make a great princess, too."

Kimberly pouts. "But I'm not as pretty as you, Jas."

Jasmine smiles softly at her sister. "Kim..."

"What happened here?!" Flo's high pitched screech surprises the two children.

"Ugh, the witch is back," Kimberly says under her breath and Jasmine giggles.

Flo quirks a brow. "What was that you said?"

Jasmine holds Kimberly by the shoulder before the younger girl could say more. "We're really sorry. We were just having too much fun."

Flo still suspiciously eyes Kimberly who is shooting her an unimpressed look. Her sister looks a lot like Madison when she does that.

"Whatever," Flo finally says. "Just clean this shit up."

When Flo once again leaves the room, Kimberly huffs. "She's always talking to what's-his-face and being all gross. She's _our_ babysitter. Shouldn't she be talking to us?"

"It's her boyfriend," Jasmine says as she puts the cushions back onto their couch. "It makes sense that she'd rather talk to him than two kids. If you don't like her, you could ask Mom to get another babysitter." 

"What? No!"

"But you're always annoying her and stuff. Don't you hate her?"

"I never said I hated her."

"So you like her?"

"No!"

"I'm very confused."

"Guess who's home?" a man announces from their foyer.

Kimberly and Jasmine exchange an excited look. "Dad!" they both say before zooming out of the living room and into Ted Hart's arms.

"Did you get a lot of pictures?" Kimberly says, jumping up and down while she clings to Ted's arm. "Did you see giraffes there? I wanna see! I wanna see!"

"Maybe later, honey," Ted says. He pats the bag he has with him. "Let me put my stuff away first. Your Mom will scold me if I don't. Oh, Florencia!"

Flo scratches at her cheek, embarassed. "Just call me Flo, sir. Seriously. It makes me feel old."

"Oh, but it's such a pretty name."

"Dad, you say the same thing when people call you 'Theodore'," Jasmine says. 

Ted shrugs. "Point taken. How were my girls? I hope Kimberly didn't cause too much trouble."

"Hey!"

Flo crouches to loosely embrace both girls. "They were angels, actually," Flo very obviously lies.

Kimberly is smiling wide, like the angel she isn't. Jasmine chooses to be silent about the toy cockroach Kimberly put in Flo's bag.

"Great, great," Ted nods and reaches into his pocket for his wallet. From it, he pulls out Flo's payment for her service. "We'll just be ordering pizza for dinner. I'm too jetlagged to cook. You're welcome to stay if you want."

Kimberly looks excited, but Jasmine already knows Flo's answer. She overheard her talking about a date with her boyfriend.

"That's very kind of you, sir, but I have homework to do."

"Ah, I understand. Say hello to Paula for me."

Ted is too busy hauling his luggage up the stairs to notice Kimberly and Flo stick their tongues out childishly at each other. Jasmine rolls her eyes and follows Ted.

"Hey, Dad. Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure thing, Princess."

"How come my last name is 'Abbar' and not 'Hart'?"

Ted freezes. He looks at Jasmine, his blue eyes swirling with emotions that young Jasmine can't understand yet. He leaves his open luggage on the bed and kneels to look Jasmine in the eye.

"I'm not the one who's supposed to tell you, Jas. We'll have to wait for your Mom to come home, okay?"

Jasmine's brows are furrowed in confusion and a slight twinge of fear. But she nods. "Okay."

A shriek from downstairs startles the two. But then Kimberly's giggles quickly follow it. Flo must have found the toy cockroach.

_/\/·\/\\_

"Jas's dad... isn't Dad?" Kimberly says with as much confusion as Jasmine herself feels.

Jasmine's dinner is left untouched. She just looks at her parents. Or, well... who she _thought_ were her parents. Jasmine doesn't know what she's supposed to think now.

"Yes..." Madison says. "And no."

Kimberly frowns. "I'm confused."

Madison pinches the bridge of her nose and Jasmine feels bad for starting this conversation. Madison hasn't even slept yet.

"We can talk about this later, Mom," Jasmine says. "You should rest first."

Madison shoots her a soft smile. "Thank you, but..." She shakes her head. "It's fine. You wanted to know, and we're telling you." She turns her attention to Kimberly. "I had a husband, honey. Before I met your Dad, I was married to another man. _That_ man was Jasmine's father."

Jasmine feels a distant pain in her heart. Like it doesn't yet fully understand how much hearing all of this hurts. "Was?" She knows what using that article means.

Madison's eyes cast down. She looks to Ted, who has been uncharacteristically quiet this whole time. He shoots her an encouraging smile and holds her hand.

"Your father died shortly after you were born," Madison tells Jasmine. She smiles at Ted. "We met shortly after and had our little Kimmy. We wanted to wait and tell you when you _and_ Kimberly are old enough to understand, but... I suppose that time has come sooner than we expected." She reaches out to cup Jasmine's cheek. "You're such a smart girl, Jasmine. I know you'd understand."

Jasmine shakes her head and stands. "But I don't! I..." Her eyes land on Ted. "You're not my Dad and mine is dead, and I-"

 _Don't belong._

"Princess," Ted says. "That's not -"

"I'm not hungry," Jasmine says before storming up to her room. 

She doesn't care that she's being rude. She slams the door and turns the lock.

_/\/·\/\\_

Jasmine isn't sure why she's crying.

You could say discovering the death of the father she never knew about could be it, but no. There's the sadness for the death of a person, but it isn't heartwrenching enough to make her cry. She doesn't even know the man. You could say it's because her family lied to her, but that isn't the case either. She understood what Madison meant, that waiting until they were older was the best option. So she forgoes understanding her tears and lets them fall. Knowing the meaning behind them won't change the urge to cry.

Something taps at her window, and Jasmine pulls her head out of her pillow to look for its source. Her heart almost jumps out of her throat when she sees Kimberly grinning at her from behind the glass.

"Kimberly!" Jasmine screeches as she pulls her sister into the safety of her room. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?!"

"Hah! Knights don't care about the danger when they need to get to the princess!"

Jasmine sniffs. The sincerity behind Kimberly's reckless stupidity just makes her tear up again.

"Oh no. What's wrong Jas? Are you hurt?"

Jasmine shakes her head. Kimberly takes one of her hands and pulls her into the bed. She pulls the blanket over their heads. It's what Jasmine usually does for Kimberly whenever she would come crying to her room after a nightmare.

"It's okay, Jas," Kimberly says when they're beneath the blanket. "Nothing is going to get us here." Kimberly takes a moment to just look at Jasmine who remains quiet. "Jas, why are you still sad? Is it because of your other dad? I'm really sorry that you won't get to see him."

"I'm not really... I don't know if I'm sad that he's gone. I don't even know him. But I'm hurt and I don't know why. I guess... I'm just sad that everything is diffent from what I knew. Dad isn't my real dad." She turns to give Kimberly a sad smile. "And we're not really sisters. Only half."

"That's not true at all. Not _everything_ is different. Dad said so when you left. He's still your dad, and we're still sisters."

"What about my real dad?"

"Your _other_ dad," Kimberly corrects. "This just means that your family is bigger than you expected, Jas. Isn't that great?"

Jasmine lets out a light chuckle despite everything. "That's another way of putting it." She moves closer, wraps her arms around her sister. "Thank you. You're the best, Kim."

"Uh-huh. And don't you forget it."

She never will. She never really thought otherwise.

_/\/·\/\\_

But Jasmine's anxiety never goes away either. It's too bad one's fears can't simply be washed away by an eight-year-old's words. 

There's still the lingering fear that her parents don't love her as much as they do Kimberly. Jasmine just believes that they aren't obligated to. It doesn't help that Madison is always busy in the hospital and Ted often takes trips out of Angel Grove to photograph the great beauty nature and animals have to offer.

"I know how you feel," her friend, Ella, says when Jasmine one day decides to talk about it after years of keeping it to herself.. "I live with my step family, too. I just... try my best to make them like me, you know?"

Does she?

She does, but she only realized it then. She's been aiming for the top, keeping out of trouble, and focusing on her grades. Is that what she's doing? Making sure her family has a reason to love her?

"I got in!" 

Jasmine is startled out of her thoughts when Kimberly bursts into the living room with that same youthful energy she wishes for herself. Madison and Ted have more confused expressions in their faces compared to her excited sister.

"I got in the cheer squad!" Kimberly announces.

There's a small smile in Ted's face now, but Madison is frowning. "That's why you're home so late? You missed dinner and you weren't answering your phone. You worried us."

That doesn't wipe the grin off of Kimberly's face. She simply sits on the arm of the chair Jasmine is perched on. "Chill, Mom. Nothing's gonna happen to me in _Angel Grove_."

"Car accidents happen," Madison says. "Even in Angel Grove. I known. The E.R. was busy with its aftermath today."

"I just hung out with the squad. Oh, _my_ squad. Can you believe that? I'm part of a _squad_!"

"You must have done great, honey," Ted says.

"You've always been better than me at cartwheeling," Jasmine comments. Her brows furrow. "Anything physical, really." She never even did a successful cartwheel, now that she thinks about it.

"That's because the only muscle you exercise with is this," Kimberly taps her sister's temple and Jasmine playfully swats at it.

"Which is what you should also be doing," Madison says. "Not something as ridiculous as jumping around in scanty outfits."

Ted is frowning now, too. It seems he's only now realized that last part. "Can you ask your coach if you can just wear pants?"

"Ew, no, Dad," Kimberly replies. "And cheerleading is more than just jumping around. It's a sport."

" _Softball_ is a sport," Madison says. "Why don't you just join that?"

"No one likes the girls in the softball team. Everyone thinks they're gay."

Madison shrugs. "And what's wrong with that?"

Kimberly lets out a frustrated huff. Jasmine and Ted exchange a helpless look. Arguments like these have been happening more often. It's a bit worrying. 

"You don't understand," Kimberly says with a shake of her head.

"What I don't understand is why you can't join a club that makes _sense_. Look at your sister. She's in the decathlon team. She wants to be a _doctor_."

Jasmine stiffens. She doesn't like where this is going. She should leave.

"Where's _cheerleading_ going to take you?" Madison asks and Kimberly suddenly stands and marches up the stairs. "You haven't had dinner yet, Kimberly." 

"I already ate with my _friends_ ," Kimberly grmbles before slamming her door shut. 

Madison slumps back against the couch as she rubs her temples. "God, Ted. This is going to be a difficult few years, isn't it?" She catches Jasmine's eye before stretching her mouth to a tired smile. "But I'm so glad you're putting in effort to make it a little easier, Princess."

Jasmine can't make her eyes stay on her mother's any longer. "I'm going to sleep," she says before getting up to give each of her parents a kiss on the cheek. "You should, too," she tells Madison.

When she gets to Kimberly's room, she knocks. She gets no answer, so she says, "It's just me, Kim." She waits for Kimberly to open it just wide enough for one narrowed eye to be visible. "Let me in?"

Kimberly considers her for a few seconds and Jasmine gives her a flat look. Kimberly disappears but leaves the door open and Jasmine takes that as her invitation.

Jasmine takes a moment to observe all the changes Kimberly's room has gone through all these years. Kimberly has always been messy. But now instead of toys littering her room's floor, clothes, magazines and accessories are scattered everywhere. What surprises Jasmine the most is the vanity. So many developed pictures have been stuck in the mirror that she can barely see her reflection in it. It seems Kimberly got Ted's passion for photography.

"It's been a while since I've last been here," Jasmine says with belated realization. "Isn't that weird?"

Kimberly snorts. "Not really. How can you come here when you lock yourself in your room studying all the time?"

Jasmine crosses her arms, suddenly feeling defensive. "I want good grades. Of course, I study. What's so wrong with that?"

Kimberly scoffs. "You've become such a fucking nerd, Jas."

Jasmine bristles. "Why are you mad at _me_? I just came here to check on you."

Kimberly glares at the ceiling from where she's sprawled on her bed. Jasmine considers leaving when Kimberly eventually says, "Sorry. It's just so _frustrating_. How hard is it to say, 'Congratulations, Kim! I'm _so_ proud of you!'" Kimberly blinks hard before turning to her side, her long hair hiding her face from Jasmine's view. "I figured it's not. Since they say it to _you_ all the time."

Jasmine's face falls when she hears Kimberly's voice crack. She moves to the bed and takes up the space Kimberly made when she rolled over. "Mom's proud of you, Kim."

A scoff from her right.

"Well, not particularly tonight. She's just really tired. There was a bad accident and she was busy in the E.R. today. You weren't answering your phone, and after what she just recently saw, she's kind of on edge. And well..." Jasmine bites her lip, debating whether she should say the next thing on her mind. "Cheerleaders aren't exactly the best people to hang out with, Kim."

Kimberly finally turns to look at her then. "Seriously? You think _I'm_ going to turn into one of those monsters you see on movies?"

"I'm scared you might turn into one of the bullied I see in school every day."

"I won't. You know me better than that. And can you seriously tell me that all the girls in the squad is some kind of bitch out to get every one who isn't popular?"

Jasmine shrugs. "Maybe not, but there are still those kinds of girls there. If you really want to make Mom proud, you'd join the softball team instead or something. You used to love playing with Dad."

Kimberly rolls her eyes. "For all I know, there could also be horrible girls in the softball team, or any other club. And I really want to cheer. I'm going to be the best cheerleader there and become captain. I'll help my team win every season. If I'm going to make Mom proud, it's going to be by doing something I want to do." She smirks. "Imagine, getting her approval for something she didn't like? That's, like, the best revenge - to prove her wrong."

Jasmine chuckles. "Of course you'd look at it that way." She stares up at the ceiling for a moment. Then, suddenly, she blurts out, "I don't want to be a doctor."

"... What? But, you --"

"I know, I know. Ever since we were kids, I've said I wanted to be one like Mom, but then things changed... and I've been scared of disappointing her, so I haven't told her yet. It's not because I don't think I can be a good one like her."

Kimberly scoffs. "Duh."

"I just want to be something else." Jasmine takes a deep breath before letting it go. "I want to be a public servant... like my _Baba_."

Kimberly's brows rise. She bolts up and looks down at her sister. "You want to be a politician."

Jasmine sits up, too. "Yeah. Ever since I found out more about _Baba_ and the good things he's done for so many people, I've wanted to do that, too. I want to help people. I know being a doctor helps people, too, but there's more things I can do if I'm --"

"Jas, hey," Kimberly interrupts with a hand on her wrist. "You're rambling."

Jasmine flushes. "Sorry."

"It's okay. And you don't have to try so hard to justify yourself to me." She gives a wry smile, "I'm not _Mom_. I, for one, think it makes perfect sense."

Jasmine returns a soft smile. Ever since befriending Amanda Clarke, Kimberly's developed a sort of problematic attitude. It's good to know that deep down, when it comes to things that matter, she's still the sister Jasmine loves. 

"Thanks. Gotta muster up the courage to tell Mom and Dad first, though."

"You'll be fine. Dad'll be proud no matter what. You know him. And Mom can't stay upset about it forever once you inevitably become president. But if you're _really_ worried about it, I could tell them I'm bi at the same time."

Jasmine laughs. But when Kimberly only quirks a brow at her, her hand flies up to her mouth. "Oh my God, you're serious?"

Kimberly tries to play it cool by shrugging. 

"Oh, Kim!" She wraps an arm around her sister. Kimberly squirms, but Jasmine can see that she's fighting back a smile. "Now _that_ makes perfect sense."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Flo was totally your first crush."

Kim gives an indignant squeak. "She was _not_."

"You kept annoying her so she'd pay attention to you. You started swearing so much because you wanted to talk and act like her. _And_ you cried so much when she left Angel Grove for college."

Kimberly gasps. "Oh my god, she _was_."

Jasmine laughs.

Kimberly's phone suddenly ringing interrupts the moment. Kimberly swipes the device from her nightstand and beams when she sees Amanda's caller I.D. She immediately answers and Jasmine's own smile sobers up when she's been practically set aside. "Hey! Oh yeah, I'm still going. Just wait for me to get ready."

"You're going somewhere?" Jasmine says when Kimberly finally hangs up. "You just got home."

Kimberly shrugs. "Ty Flemming's throwing a party. I can't not attend." There's an excited glimmer in Kimberly's eyes. "I'm a cheerleader now."

Jasmine rolls her eyes when Kimberly has her back to her to dig into her closet. "Right," she mutters. "Because refusing would just go against some code or something."

Kimberly's eyes suddenly turn to her. "You wanna come with me?" When Jasmine grimaces, she crouches in front of her sister and looks up at her with those big brown eyes. "We'll have fun."

"I doubt it. High school parties aren't my thing."

"How would you know if you've never been to one?"

"I _have_ been to one."

It was Ella's idea. Her friend wanted to feel like a teenager for once instead of her step family's maid, so Jasmine went with her.She ended up trying her best to avoid boys who wanted to "dance" with her while Ella made out with a boy who never remembered her. Jasmine didn't expect much of her night, but she still somewhat felt disappointed. Ella being a crying mess for days after probably contributed to that.

"Really?" Kimberly asks. "You've never told us about going to one."

Jasmine shrugs. "Ella wanted to go so I went with her. Studying isn't all that I do."

Kimberly scoffs and looks away. "Coulda fooled me."

"Huh?"

"It's been a while since we hung out." She stands and continues digging in her closet. "But you have time for that loser who dresses in rags."

Jasmine fumes as she stands with clenched fists. She's become tired of hearing that from their classmates. She can't believe even Kimberly would say that. "Are you serious? Is that how that bitch Amanda shows you to treat _people_? She's my _friend_ , Kim."

Kimberly turns to her with her own glare. "And Amanda's _my_ friend. You know what?" She waves a hand dismissively at her. "You can lock yourself in your room for all I care."

"Fine," Jasmine huffs and leaves.

She thought that that was when the riff started. But cracks have probably formed way before then. She supposes the fissures only got big enough to be noticed then.

_/\/·\/\\_

"That looks pretty bad," Ella says from behind the wheel of Jasmine's car. "Are you sure you wanna come with your team tomorrow? I think they'd probably be fine without you. You got that Cranston kid there now."

Jasmine rubs at her aching temples. She's she studied all she could so they could _win_. Not going would just put all of that hard work to waste. "I can't. My mom's finally coming to watch. I can't just not go when she made time to go to Washington for me."

"Is she finally cool with you not choosing a medical field?"

"Maybe?" Jasmine sighs. "Hopefully. Mom's always been pretty hard to read. But she's relatively vocal about her disappointment."

"But she's not stopping you?"

Jasmine gives her a small smile. "No. Thankfully not. I'll just..." She smirks. "Do my best to _be_ the best. Becoming president trumps becoming a doctor right?"

Ella grins. " _I'd_ vote for you. You'll be the best president America will ever have. Better than Obama."

Jasmine laughs, lets the cool glass of the car window mildly soothe her headache. "Thanks, Elle."

"Hey, is that Flemming making out with your sister?"

Jasmine's eyes, which were closed until Ella's words, fly open. The car is still a few houses away from the Hart's, but they can still clearly see that it's Kimberly in Ty's arms. Ty Flemming. Of all people.

"Oh, hell no," Jasmine mutters under her breath. Ty is on his way to his truck now that Kimberly is going back to their house. Their _empty_ house, since neither of their parents are home and Jasmine was with her decathlon team. "Pull over."

"What?"

" _Pull over_ , Ella." Her head is throbbing painfully, but she ignores it for the bigger headache who just kissed her baby sister. 

"Oh, okay." Ella pulls on the breaks and has to watch with bewilderment as Jasmine lets herself out her car before it gets to fully stop and marches up to Ty.

"Flemming!"

Ty stops in his tracks when he hears his name. He grins when he sees her, but Jasmine is far from happy.

"What's up, Jas?"

"Oh no, first of all?" She crosses her arms. She hears Ella park the car behind her as she's finally caught up to her friend. "You don't get to call me that. Second, what the fuck do you think you're doing with my sister?"

Ty leans up against his truck as he smirks. "Why do you care? Are you jealous?"

"I care because I just saw my sister kiss an ass who propositioned me just a week ago. Gracelessly, might I add." She cocks her head to the side. "Is that what this is? You're trying to make me jealous?"

Ty holds his arms up. "Never said that. Just asked if you were. And whoever your sister dates isn't up to you, _Jasmine_." He looks past Jasmine to Ella. "Or your pathetic friend."

Ella has her arms crossed now, too. She grumbles under her breath, "Who does this kid think he is?"

Jasmine jabs a finger at Ty's chest. "I swear, if you hurt my sister, I'm gonna make you regret it."

Ty only gives a wolfish grin. "I'd love to see you try, babe. You're hot when you're mad."

Jasmine sneers. Ty is about to lean closer when they hear the splash of liquid. They both turn to see the hood of Ty's shiny truck covered in coffee, Ella with an empty cup of Krispey Kreme in her hand. Jasmine's look of delight and pride in her friend is a great contrast to Ty's horror and rage.

"You bitch!" Ty bellows. "Look what you did to my baby!"

Ella drops the cup like she couldn't quite believe what she did. "Uh... it's just coffee."

Jasmine pulls her friend into their house by the hand. She doesn't know if Ty's the type to hurt women, but she'd rather not put herself and her friend in danger just in case. But she still couldn't help saying one last thing in her ire, "If you loved your car so much, maybe you should have slept with it instead!"

When the door is closed, Ella says, "He probably would if he could," and Jasmine laughs. 

"I can't believe you did that." She gently wraps a hand around Ella's wrist. "It was awesome, but please don't do that again."

"He was being gross to you, Jas."

"I wasn't going to let him do anything. And what if he hurts you over that?"

Ella looks away. She rubs at the back of her neck, making her shirt ride up the tiniest bit. It's faint now, but Jasmine can still clearly see the bruise on her skin. "So?"

" _So_?" Jasmine lowers her voice. "So I don't want you getting hurt any more than you already are."

Ella shrugs, dumps her bag on the couch. "Won't be for long. I'll officially be free by graduation. No more evil step mother."

"I really wish you'd let me help before -"

"Oh, hey. Darla, right?"

The two friends look up to see Kimberly making her way down the staicase, hair damp and a bath towel on one hand and her phone in the other. 

"It's Ella, actually."

"Yeah, good to see you, too," Kimberly distractedly says.

"My name's, like, two syllables," Ella whispers to Jasmine while Kimberly is too busy getting a glass of water for herself in the kitchen. "How hard is that to memorize? I've been coming over for years."

"Sorry," Jasmine apologizes for her sister, probably not for the last time. "Hey, do you mind if I...?"

"No, of course. Go give her the talk. I'll be in your room."

Jasmine throws her a grateful smile before making her way to the kitchen. She finds Kimberly sitting on one of the stools, brow creased as she types on her phone. She looks troubled, and Jasmine's stomach lurches when she sees the big hickey on her neck. It feels like just yesterday Kimberly would get so scared of nightmares that she would crawl into Jasmine's bed. When did Kimberly grow old enough for things like kissing boys or --

No, she can't jump to conclusions yet.

"Hey."

Kimberly only spares her a glance before going back to her phone. "Hey. Did you want something?"

"No, I just, uh..." She sits on the stool beside Kimberly's. She sighs. "I saw Ty leaving here."

Kimberly's fingers still for a moment. Then she quickly types something before locking her phone and placing it on the kitchen counter. "Oh. So?"

"You were alone, in this empty house, for who knows how long. And I can see you have at least one hickey."

Kimberly flushes, pulls at her damp hair so it covers the sides of her neck. "And? Are you gonna tell Mom and Dad or something?"

 _If I have to_.

No, no. She shakes her head. She can't do that. "I won't do that if I don't have to. But Kim, I don't think you should be with him."

"Because _you_ want him?"

Jasmine almost gags. "God, no. He's bad news, Kim. He's just gonna hurt you."

Kimberly's frown deepens. "No, he won't. He likes me."

"Believe me, he doesn't."

Kimberly stands, the stool making a painful screech against the marble floor. "Not everyone has to worship _you_ , Jas. Is it so hard to believe that someone would want _me_ for once?"

"What? No, of course, not."

"Forget this. I don't need you to mom me. I've already had enough of that."

Kimberly takes her phone and side steps Jasmine so she could leave, but Jasmine grabs hold of her wrist. "Please, wait. I just wanna know if you're okay."

"I'm fine," Kimberly very obviously lies before marching up to her room. Jasmine sluggishly makes her way to her own room, too.

"How'd it go?" Ella asks.

"Terrible." Jasmine crashes face first into her bed and Ella tries to comfort her by running a hand through her hair. She turns her face away from the mattress so she could say, "Having a sister is hard."

Ella hums. "You got that right."

**Author's Note:**

> next chapter will have jaladdin? jasladdin? ah whatever their shipname is. jasmine&trini's interaction cuz i didn't get to show that and more scenes of what happened after "Not Just An After Thought". hope you guys like this so far!


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